With being accessible 24/7 and societal expectations exceedingly high, I believe now more than ever it is important that we all have some sort of hobby or creative outlet. Stay with me here. I know you are a mom, feeling like you don’t have enough hours in the day to get the mandatory stuff done (cleaning, grocery shopping, showering) let alone time for an extracurricular activity, but I actually think you may have more time than you think. Do this little exercise for me (sorry android users, I only know how to find this on iPhones – I’m not tech savvy…). Go to Settings/Battery/Last 10 days. Then scroll down to where it says “Battery Usage by App” and click to the right where it says “Show Activity”. By clicking on this, it shows how much time has been spent in each app over the course of the past 10 days.
This activity isn’t meant to make you feel guilty or lazy, its meant to show you that you may in fact have time to pursue a hobby! What if the time you spent scrolling through Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest or Amazon was actually spent doing something that promotes creativity or relaxation? An activity where you feel refreshed or healthily challenged at the completion? It’s a running joke that you ask a mom what her hobbies are and she laughs while listing out chasing kids, cleaning the house and sleeping with any free moments available. However, I challenge you to look within and think to yourself – what are my hobbies? And if you can’t name any, start to think about things you enjoy. What puts a smile on your face just thinking about it? It could be all sorts of things – painting, doing a puzzle, hiking, reading, coloring, baking, sewing, anything really. Something you can get excited about and look forward to doing.
Now make some time to do this. Easier said than done right? What if instead of spending the hours you spent on Facebook over the past 10 days (oh, was that just me?) you spent doing something productive/relaxing/something you enjoy? Imagine how much more fulfilling your time would be!
With the new year upon us, many of us are taking the time to evaluate our habits, patterns and life choices and brainstorm new ways we can improve them. I challenge you to consider cutting out that wasteful time spent staring at your phone and put towards a joy filled activity. What a difference this would make in our lives.
